17 year old hoping to become a sports journalist or broadcaster in the future...

September 4, 2012

College Football Week 1 Recap

Week one is in the books, and many exciting games went down. It seemed many teams had lots of trouble with small FBS teams and even FCS teams. Minnesota went to 3OT with UNLV, Stanford only beat San Jose State by three, #8 Wisconsin beat Northern Iowa by five, Wake Forest escaped by three against Liberty, #4 Oklahoma could only pull away from UTEP in the 4th, and Maryland beat FCS-William & Mary on a late touchdown, 7-6. My #7 team South Carolina struggled against Vanderbilt on Thursday night. Vandy is a very underrated team, so it being close was not a surprise. But aside from Marcus Lattimore having another monster game, the rest of the Gamecock's squad under-performed But two very shocking upsets took place as well. The first, was FCS-school Youngstown State beating up Pittsburgh in every single way to cruise to a 31-17 win. An embarrassing moment for Pitt, who had never lost to an FCS school before. The next was Texas State pounding Houston on the road. Houston, coming off a 13-1 season, was a 34.5-point favorite. Houston did loose QB Case Keenum to the NFL last year, but the offense is still explosive. I had Houston winning out in the regular season. That prediction is done after the first week.Texas State was playing their first game as an FBS-member. But no one had them winning this one. Yet, they came into Houston, shut down Houston's offense, and left with a 30-13 victory. According to Pregame.com, Texas State is the first school to ever win a game by double digits while being a 30 or more point underdog. While this game has been overlooked by almost everyone, this will be one of the biggest upsets of the season. The biggest game of the weekend though, was #2 Alabama's blowout of #11 Michigan. The Tide demolished them in all areas. Most people expected an Alabama win, but not to this magnitude. It may be time for Michigan to hit the panic button after how many holes were exposed in that game.Week 2 Top 25:1. USC (1-0)2. Alabama (1-0)3. Florida State (1-0)4. Oklahoma (1-0)5. LSU (1-0)6. Oregon (1-0)7. South Carolina (1-0)8. Arkansas (1-0)9. Wisconsin (1-0)10. Georgia (1-0)11. Michigan State (1-0)12. Virginia Tech (1-0)13. Texas (1-0)14. Clemson 1-0)15. West Virginia (1-0)16. Michigan (1-0)17. Nebraska (1-0)18. Ohio State (1-0)19. Oklahoma State (1-0)20. TCU (0-0)21. Louisville (1-0)22. Utah (1-0)23. North Carolina (1-0)24. Kansas State (1-0)25. Auburn (0-1)Next 5 in: NC State (0-1), Washington (1-0), Notre Dame (1-0), Iowa (1-0), Boise State (0-1)What to Watch:Central Florida (1-0) @ #18 Ohio St. (1-0) (12:00pm ET, ESPN2)UCF is a very talented team the Buckeyes must be careful not to overlook. If Braxton Miller can play like he did last week vs Miami, Ohio State should roll.Prediction: Ohio St. 37 UCF 20Air Force (1-0) @ #16 Michigan (0-1) (3:30pm ET, ABC/ESPN2)Michigan should win, but Air Force is always dangerous and if the Wolverines havn't picked itself up after an embarrassing loss last weekend, the Falcons could pull a shocker.Prediction: Mich 30 AF 15Florida (1-0) @ Texas A & M (0-0) (3:30pm ET, ESPN)Florida looked shaky vs Bowling Green. Jeff Driskel was named starting QB on Monday, but how will he play vs a tougher Aggie squad? Texas A & M plays their first game as an SEC member.Florida 21 TAMU 14Washington (1-0) @ #5 LSU (1-0) (7:00pm ET, ESPN)LSU should win this game, and it can go almost any possible way. Washington is a sleeper team but will need to be at their best to beat LSU. That being said, don't sleep on the Huskies.Prediction: LSU 48 UW 35#10 Georgia @ Missouri (7:45pm ET, ESPN2)

Georgia had its fair share of problems last week vs Buffalo, and has been know to drop games early in the season that they should win. They get Missouri on the road this week, and this is looking like a disaster waiting to happen. Prediction: UGA 34 Mizz 31Duke @ Stanford (10:30pm ET, Pac-12 Network)After Stanford almost suffered a major upset last week vs SJSU, they look to show they can win without Andrew Luck and take down Duke. Duke is looking to show they aren't in the cellar of the ACC anymore, and a win vs Stanford can prove that argument.Prediction: Stan 31 Duke 21Week 2 Recap